So relieved to be safely back from eastern europe!
OK.... the title is abit exaggerated.... it was fun.. but tiring cos for quite a long while...13th April: Board 3am bus to Malmo, south of Sweden.
Doesn't it sounds crazy to catch such a late bus..?! Actually, our plan was to eat pizza at this cafe WHICH WE THOUGHT opens till 3am!! and... we were wrong... they only open till 3 on fri and sat.. and.. we were left stranded on the damn cold street.. hungry...... then in the end, we bought some expensive pasta from some pubs.. and ate in my school which is open 24hrs... and,... so "lang bei" cos the pub dun have disposable utensils,... and... we had to innovate our own!! check out the photos..!
14th April: Reached Malmo at 7am.. hungry!!!
It doesn't start off well when we are all hungry.. cos our pizza plan put aeroplane on us.. but we bucked up and looked for the nice breakfast buffet in malmo that our friends had tried and recommended to us.. and guess what?! after the long walks with our backpacks and furious asking around, we didn't manage to find it either..!!!! In the end, we gave up the buffet and ate burger king cos it had some "cheap"(for sweden standards, but still expensive at singapore standards) promotions for hamburgers...
"What a way to start the trip!!?!?!??"
Then we had to rush to the airport... to catch our budget flight to our first stop in the eastern europe! POLAND!! the capital, WARSAW!!
the plane was purple and pink.... which is definitely not my style.. anyway.. out of point... hahaha...
The first step into warsaw, we were all super excited!! it was our first trip on the plane to somewhere together!! we collected our luggage and head for the city.. then, there was this "bus thing" that i gotta share with you guys..
we waited for the bus and when the bus came, we queue and waited for our turn to board.. then there was this 2 man before us, let me call them man A and man B.. man A was on the bus, asking the bus driver something... man B waited at the door.. then we queued behind man B. Then, the door suddenly close on man B!! right in his face! and, he needed to pull himself away from the closing door in order not to get squeezed between the doors!! he was still outside the bus!! Man A signalled to the bus driver that his friend is still outside and asked him to open the door, but the bus driver just signalled man B to take the next bus. HUH???! what is this?! so, the bus leaves SO promptly on time that the rest of the people are just left at the bus stop to wait for the next bus..?! that is so NOT FLEXIBLE!! and it really pissed me off that moment.
then while we continued to wait, there was this lady who boarded the bus that came next and then saw us at a loss and alight and asked us where we are going to, then we told her to the central, then she told us that this bus that she is boarding also goes there, then we boarded the bus with her, then on the bus we asked us again, then she says that this bus can change to another bus to the central, then we say that we got direct bus from here.. then she tot for a while and realised that too and told us to get down the next stop then.. she was so kind to help us.. she actually got down from the INFLEXIBLE bus to help us.. she could suffer the fate of the bus leaving..
and finally, the bus came!
the bus driver on the buses here sux! they are so super unfriendly and refuse to help us in our questions.! this driver even sold us extra tickets which we didn't need! sux! but the people we asked for help on the bus were really nice.. there was this thing that we conclude: Poland people are nice, but they looked so stern and fierce. BUT they are nice within and will help. =)
15th April: Love the Polish cuisine and their pricing too!
Things in poland and like singapore pricing with some things to be slightly cheaper.. like chocolates! If, you were to go to poland, MUST try their dumplings and go to the restaurant SPHINX to eat.! not very ex and very nice food! Plus, must visit the old town, got nice buildings and statues and very classic horse-carriages etc..
Anyway, just ate and walked around.. spent half the day in the morning at the tourist office to settle our train tickets to Czech republic and to another city in Poland -- Krakow. where it have one of the biggest concentration camp in the world.
16th April: Wake up at 4am to catch train to Krakow
We were tired when we were on the train.. wanting to sleep. but we know we shouldn't.. cos we have heard about trains being unsafe and having pickpockets to steal things on trains when you are asleep....
we were in this cabin where there were 3 other people, so total 7 of us in the cabin. they were one 50plus yr old man, 30plus lady and a 20odd young man.... they sat away from each other.. at 3 different corners in the cabin... we were careful and imaginative at the same time... chatting away in Chinese and Cantonese that the 3 of them looked suspicious.... all their actions were interpreted by us into some pickpockets signals.. it was funny to some sense...
the concentration camp was magnificient.. it was so massive.. and terrifying why someone will go to this extent to kill other races... it was intriguing to see such organized murder.. unbelievable.. how these poor people(mainly jews) had all their belongings, even hair, taken away from them.. it spurred much discussion and talk among the 4 of us..
then we walked krakow's old town.. which is more beautiful than warsaw.. but smaller though.. then we 'da pao' some polish food for the train ride and rush to catch our train heading to Czech republic...
On the train, was this damn scary incident!!
we looked for an empty cabin, cos of this morning's "imaginations run wild" talk.. we dun want to be in a cabin where they are pickpockets.. then we were in a cabin of our own.. then when we were eating halfway, this drunken crazy man who looked damn scary opened our cabin door and poke his head near to us!!! Yelling away at the same time!! we were terrified!!! but we tried not to give him any reaction in order to not trigger his any other actions..! this awkward moment lasted for quite a while, then he left... laughing....
we were totally shocked and scared out of our wits....! we didn;t know what to do.. the cabin door can't be locked.. and we just prayed that we will be safe.....
AND. There was a second time.! he walked past our cabin again!! once again, he opened our door, stood there, looking at all of us. we attempted to all looked busy and not see his appearance. after about a long while.................... he left.... and this time.. we already scared till dead le........... alll we hoped was to faster reach our destination......
finally, we reached the last point of poland.. where we had to change trains.. we waited at macdonalds for about an hour before boarding..
17th April: The close encounter with a pickpocket at Czech Republic
it was about 1am when we board the train to Czech republic.. we were all so tired, physically and mentally.. we got a cabin of our own again.. and we decided to nap.. we tied a string( quite strong, taken from my deuter bag, the drawstring's string) from the door handle to curtain holder.. it gave quite a strong grip.. cos we tried and it will really need some strength to break it.. we nap with our luggages on our backs.. and we facing the door.. one conducter and 2 passport checkers came and we were all alert and wake up when they came..
then at around 5am!! i suddenly heard: "CHOY!!" immediately i woke up... to see Ah Sa (one of my hongkong friend) sat up with a face of needing someone.. she told me that there was a pickpocket that tried to take her pouch at her waist.. he lifted the pouch with both hands slowly and when she realised and opened her eyes, there was this moment of her eyes meeting his eyes... face to face.. then they stoned for that moment. then the man put down the pouch and walked off. isn;t that scary?! Ah Sa is so brave and calm!! she said that because the pickpocket is scared and escaped thats why she is not scared... and Ah Sa is so alert!! i dunno what and how it will be if it was me to be the victim.. then we checked the string.. it broke...! he actually used quite alot of strength to pull open our door...! so scary.....
then, we didn't sleep le.. we all woke up and talked about the incidents that happened and reminded ourselves to be careful in Czech republic -- Prague.
upon alighting the train, we met 2 other travellers who were from prague and had just travelled back from asia(first stop was singapore and they were really happy to meet and help us cos they really loved singapore), they brought us to deposit our luggages and helped us to asked for train information and bought train tickets.. they showed us directions to change our money and where to eat etc... they were really really nice..!
Prague is beautiful!!!!!!! the buildings, the streets, the trees, the river, the statues.. they were all so nice and beautiful...!!! but, things were really expensive there.... probably cos it was flooded with tourists... it felt quite touristy....
18th April: Vienna, here we come!
We were all so excited to reach vienna.. we know it gotta be different from poland and czech.. it gotta be like so clean and tidy and not haphazard.. and we were right!! the trains were better.. the streets were better..
The chicken cutlet in Vienna is great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! it is super nice!!!! it is called schnitzels...!! My senior already told me to try that when i go.. and it was definitely nice!!!! TASTY!! till now, i am still missing it.... and there was this cafe recommended by lonely planet, it was super good!! the food is nice and the protions were big!! my senior also recommeded me to try the donuts there.. called kraphen.. but.. it was too ex.... i just can't bring myself to buy it.. it it like cheapest $2.50 for a small donut.......
We wanted to catch a musical in vienna.. but we failed.. we didn't succeed in buying the tickets.... sadly... vienna was beautiful too.. but probably cos we came from prague.. and it seemed that we just simply loved prague too much..... prague was very beautiful!!
19th April: Exploring safe Vienna
Vienna was a very musical place.. there was alot of cafes and places named after musicians.. like mozart... the ambience that vienna gives was nice.. at least we know it was safer than poland and czech..
We went to several churches and they were all very nice.. magnificent... churches that u will go 'wow!'... we went to see the famous "duo nao" river... and heroes square....
heroes sqaure was a pity... they had 2 very huge statues of heroes i think.. but they actually used bricks to cover them!!! i dunno why they do that.... they built a tall red brick wall around the statue.. and we can see the statues no more!! that was sad...
In the evening, we head for the capital of Hungary--Budapest.. by bus.. it only take us 3 hours....
at budapest, we were brought to our apartment( something like the apartment that we rented in KL that time) where we are going to stay for 3 nights..
20th April: Setting early curfews in Hungary
Hungary didn;t feel safe.. the surroundings of our apartment din feel safe too.. so we set ourselves a curfew to get home before 7pm which the sky darkens after that.. We didn;t do much on day 1.. walked around a little.. visit the tourist office.. as a usual practice when we go to any new place.... visited a very nice church.. it was really nice.. gold plated tiny details and all...
21st April: Hungarian food is exciting!!
People in hungary are innovative and creative when it comes to food.. so, it is amazing what they do to the normal potatoes or tomatoes that you see... we finally ate our first hungarian meal after much anticiaption!!! we just ordered what people ordered and pointing at food that we dunno.... but, it all turned out VERY NICE!!! their food is amazing..!! it doesn't really taste like how it looks!! check out the photos..!
This day, we went to their national museum to see the 1000years history of hungary... isn;t that very very long?! we also went to ther castle.. that is the first castle that i visited!!!!! yeah!!! love the feeling of being in it!!! hee..
Then, we also went to their famous thermal medicated bath.. it is a "Hungary" thing.. one of their highlights... it was quite shiok.... hee
22nd April: Happy to leave eastern europe to more systematic place, Denmark
We were all set to go to Legoland in Denmark which we thought was in the capital, Copenhagen. It turned out to be god damn far away from copenhagen.. got to cross two huge islands to get to it.. so.. we decided to do only shopping on copenhagen..
23rd April: Shopping day
We shopped through the streets in copenhagen.. it was great... there were many shopping streets.... and... i bought a pair of nike dunk!!! happy!! and, it ended up that we all had a pair of new shoes from this trip... all nike..! 3 pairs of dunk and 1 pair of nike tennis shoes.!! will try to upload a picture of it..
This was the day that we are supposed to travel to malmo and visit the musuem the next day.. but cos we already had no money left.. and had exceeded our budget.. we decided to give malmo museum a miss.. and travel back to Jonkoping, our dear sweet home early by one day!!
24th April: At 2am, we reached home safely. tired.
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